The High Court in Kampala has issued an interim administrative order stopping the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) from acting on a decision that effectively blocked the renewal of Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Lubega Kaddunabbi's contract.
The order, issued by Justice Joyce Kavuma on May 29, preserves the status quo pending the hearing of a substantive application in which Kaddunabbi is challenging the legality of the board's decision made on February 16, 2026.
The ruling means the IRA Board cannot implement, enforce or give effect to its decision declining to recommend Kaddunabbi for reappointment until the court determines the pending application.
At the centre of the dispute is Kaddunabbi's contention that the process leading to the board's decision should be subjected to judicial review.
Through his lawyers, he argues that he retains legal rights arising from his contract and that those rights deserve protection while the court considers the merits of his challenge.
The respondents, the Insurance Regulatory Authority and board chairman Dr Isaac Nabeta Nkoote, urged the court not to grant interim relief.
They argued that Kaddunabbi's contract was approaching expiry and maintained that preserving his position through court orders would effectively amount to extending or renewing his contract, a responsibility they said belongs to the appointing authorities under the law.
On June 1, IRA's board named Protazio Sande, the insurance regulator's Director of Strategy and Market Development, as the acting chief executive.
Dr Sande will continue overseeing operations of IRA even with the court order as Judge Kavuma's decision does not automatically restore Kaddunabbi to his position as it only suspends the the February 16 decision declining to recommend him for renewal pending determination of the substantive application.
Justice Kavuma instead concluded that the circumstances justified maintaining the existing position until the substantive application could be heard and determined.
The forthcoming proceedings are expected to determine whether the board's handling of the renewal process complied with the legal and procedural standards governing public appointments and administrative decision-making.
Lubega is a former Butambala County MP who served two separate terms in Parliament, first from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2006 to 2011, before exiting elective politics after losing the NRM parliamentary primaries to Faisal Kikulukunyu ahead of the 2011 general election.
Sources say his ascendance to the helm of IRA involved a deal that saw him stand down against challenging Kikulukunyu as an independent.
